asked the Taoiseach if he will consider the advantages of creating, under the general supervision of the Attorney General but separate from the ordinary work of his Department, a special staff of legal advisers with adequate resources, to concentrate on the whole complex of sea-related matters involving such matters as fisheries, submarine archaeology, offshore exploration and mining, control of marine pollution, prevention and disposal of wrecks, and, in particular, relations with other States regarding the delimitation of the sea-bed and continental shelf.

The sea-related areas referred to in the question are such as to require legal assistance and advice from time to time on a very wide and diverse range of issues.

I will consider the suggestion put forward by the Deputy but such consideration would have to have regard to the present budgetary constraints.